Here is What Hedge Funds Think About Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (APOG)

Should Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) investors track the following data?

If you were to ask many market players, hedge funds are perceived as delayed, old investment vehicles of a period lost to current times. Although there are In excess of 8,000 hedge funds in operation currently, Insider Monkey looks at the bigwigs of this club, about 525 funds. It is assumed that this group oversees most of all hedge funds' total assets, and by paying attention to their highest performing investments, we've determined a few investment strategies that have historically outpaced the market. Our small-cap hedge fund strategy outpaced the S&P 500 index by 18 percentage points per year for a decade in our back tests, and since we've began to sharing our picks with our subscribers at the end of August 2012, we have outpaced the S&P 500 index by 33 percentage points in 11 months (find a sample of our picks).

Just as useful, optimistic insider trading sentiment is a second way to analyze the world of equities. As the old adage goes: there are a variety of reasons for a corporate insider to get rid of shares of his or her company, but just one, very simple reason why they would initiate a purchase. Plenty of academic studies have demonstrated the market-beating potential of this strategy if investors understand where to look (learn more here).

Thus, it's important to study the latest info about Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG).

Hedge fund activity in Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG)

At Q2's end, a total of 11 of the hedge funds we track held long positions in this stock, a change of 10% from the first quarter. With hedgies' capital changing hands, there exists a select group of key hedge fund managers who were increasing their holdings considerably.

Out of the hedge funds we follow, Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, holds the biggest position in Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG). Royce & Associates has a $33.3 million position in the stock, comprising 0.1% of its 13F portfolio. On Royce & Associates's heels is Renaissance Technologies, managed by Jim Simons, which held a $6.4 million position; less than 0.1%% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Some other hedgies with similar optimism include Cliff Asness's AQR Capital Management, Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold's LMR Partners and Richard Driehaus's Driehaus Capital.

As one would understandably expect, specific money managers were leading the bulls' herd. Royce & Associates, managed by Chuck Royce, established the largest position in Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG). Royce & Associates had 33.3 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Jim Simons's Renaissance Technologies also initiated a $6.4 million position during the quarter. The other funds with brand new APOG positions are Cliff Asness's AQR Capital Management, Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold's LMR Partners, and Richard Driehaus's Driehaus Capital.

What have insiders been doing with Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG)?

Bullish insider trading is at its handiest when the company in focus has experienced transactions within the past six months. Over the last 180-day time period, Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) has seen zero unique insiders purchasing, and zero insider sales (see the details of insider trades here).

We'll go over the relationship between both of these indicators in other stocks similar to Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG). These stocks are AAON, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAON), Griffon Corporation (NYSE:GFF), Universal Forest Products, Inc. (NASDAQ:UFPI), Headwaters Inc (NYSE:HW), and Trex Company, Inc. (NYSE:TREX). This group of stocks are the members of the general building materials industry and their market caps match APOG's market cap.

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Using the results demonstrated by the previously mentioned strategies, regular investors must always keep one eye on hedge fund and insider trading sentiment, and Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOG) applies perfectly to this mantra.